Jun 23Touching the Past on a London Visit: the Stanhope Molds and PlatesSynchronicity is real. With a trip to London already planned for last week, I booked a research visit to St Bride Foundation’s printing library. Founded in the early 1890s and seeded with a remarkable printer and scholar’s works, the collection is unparalleled for 19th century and earlier research. In emailing…Printing6 min readPrinting6 min read
Apr 15A Visit to the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & MuseumThis post made possible in part by people who provide support for my writing at Patreon. Thank you! On a crisp, bright October day last year, I rolled into Columbus, Ohio, a city I had never previously visited, for three days of glorious research into one of the world’s preeminent…Comics11 min readComics11 min read
Mar 28A Growth Industry: Typewriter StoresIn the small city of Bremerton, Washington (pop. 44,000), a ferry ride away from Seattle, the shock is not that a typewriter repair and retail store has kept its doors open. …Typewriter7 min readTypewriter7 min read
Jan 3, 2022A Brief NFT Explainer…and why they are just as pointless as you think they are, environmental issues aside! NFTs confuse many people. What, exactly, is a non-fungible token? Why are some ostensibly worth $100,000s to millions? What do you receive if you “purchase” one? What’s the notion behind them? An NFT relies on a blockchain, an ostensibly immutable record of ownership that uses cryptography to prove ownership. If…Bitcoin5 min readBitcoin5 min read
Feb 22, 2021Member-onlyReading the ReprintingsThe Printer’s Side — Book collectors make a big deal about first editions. Often, their interest is not just the first time a work appears in print, but rather the first printing of that work, too — a so-called first-first. It would be more accurate to call it the earliest edition, perhaps. I’m not…Printing34 min readPrinting34 min read
Feb 3, 2021Letter to PCC Markets Board of DirectorsUpdate: The CEO who headed up the terrible decision left PCC in August 2021. In January 2022, PCC elevated its CFO, Krish Srinivasan, to the chief executive position. There has been little drama since. Update (April 30, 2021): PCC announced its member dividend for 2020, a new approach it took…Pcc5 min readPcc5 min read
Dec 26, 2020Don’t Coffin Me, It’s CrackersListening to the wonderful No Such Thing as a Fish podcast this morning, made by the researchers (“elves”) of UK panel show QI, they brought up a problem with a joke included with Christmas crackers. Crackers are a British tradition — nothing to do with biscuits, cookies, or the like…Letterpress6 min readLetterpress6 min read
Nov 18, 2019Yes! We Have Some BananasThe public domain gained an entire year of material in 2019 and more is slated to come. — “Whose woods these are, I think I” — whoa! Until January 1, 2019, I couldn’t quote any more of this famous poem’s introduction, because of the dogged defense of copyright that the Robert Frost estate has engaged in for decades. …Copyright13 min readCopyright13 min read
Nov 13, 2019Member-onlyThe Typewriter Is Not a TypesetterThe 1919 Printing Strike That Wasn’t — In 1919, typesetters in New York wanted better working hours and better pay at job shops that handled much of the work for magazines. Their powerful union, the International Typographic Union (ITU), refused to authorize a general strike. …Typesetting22 min readTypesetting22 min read
Oct 20, 2019I Mean, It’s Not the End of the World!Sci-fi and fantasy novels thrive on the end of all things, but there are some in which the Earth and humanity aren’t particularly in danger. Warning! There will be minor spoilers for various books and movies below to explain where they fit into the “Earth/humanity goes boom” scenario. I cracked…Science Fiction5 min readScience Fiction5 min read
